Category "The Daily Promo"

Who designed it?
Designed by Kirk Lakebrink a Kansas City based designer.

Who edited the images?
Edited by myself and JP Perlmutter an artist consultant.

How many did you make?
We printed 275 copies of the piece and I mailed out 220. I will use the remaining pieces as leave behinds at portfolio shows, etc…

How many times a year do you send out promos?
For the past two years I have sent out 6 direct mail pieces a year (basically one every other month) and this year I am going to do them quarterly.

Where did your idea of women and hoops come from?
It is a long story on how I ended up shooting the piece but I will try and summarize. I played high school and college basketball. I graduated with a history degree and started my professional career as a high school history teacher/basketball coach. I taught and coached in Moore, Oklahoma then in Kansas City, Missouri and finally out in Phoenix, Arizona. The last year that I taught in Phoenix I actually switched from teaching history to photography but through a combination of teaching burnout and revitalized interest in photography (my father was a photographer) I decided not to renew my teaching contract and to give photography my full time attention. I started as a stringer for a couple small newspapers in Phoenix and my business has grown and shifted in a variety of ways over the past ten plus years. I am now based in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri shooting a mixture of editorial and commercial work.

Despite my career change away from coaching I have always maintained a love and interest in basketball and decided over this past year that I wanted to dedicate some time and attention to shooting it specifically. I had a trip scheduled to New York for portfolio shows last summer and was digging around for information on the street basketball scene in the city. I found a documentary on NYC street basketball called “Doin’ it in the Park” on Netflix which led me to their Facebook page. I was looking at the film’s Facebook page and saw a post about a group of women that play pick up ball every Sunday at Goat Park in the upper west side. I found that “Ladies Who Hoop” Facebook page and sent a message to the organizer asking if I could come and photograph them while I was visiting. The organizer Amber Batchelor welcomed me with open arms and I spent a good portion of a Sunday photographing the group while I was in town.

The second part of my interest in photographing the women was my desire to create images of women in a manner that shows them as strong, athletic, etc….I have two young daughters and any opportunity that I have to use my time and talents to document women that are strong and pushing boundaries I consider time well spent. I have to say watching the women take over one of the courts in a prominent New York City park was really cool to watch and document. I am in the planning stages of another trip there and will definitely go back and photograph the group again.

Who printed it?
The foil stamped folders were printed by a great local printer, Mr. Lam at Candid Bindery. He’s been foil stamping with expert precision forever. The nine double-sided image cards were printed by Shapco in Minneapolis.

Who designed it?
We worked with Studio Lin here in New York. They have a great eye for detail, materials, and color, and we loved some of their previous work (check out the cat calendars for United Bamboo on their site.

Who edited the images?
We always go through extensive rounds of edits ourselves before enlisting the expert eye of consultant and artist Melissa McGill.

How many did you make?
This was our first promo working officially as a team, and we wanted to introduce ourselves in a thoughtful way, favoring quality over quantity. We printed 500, which was thankfully just enough.

How many times a year do you send out promos?

We hope to mail promos once or twice a year. We love working with designers and producing something from start to finish. It’s a luxury and can be great fun.

I designed the deck, using Liberty’s Adobe Illustrator-compatible playing card template.

Who edited the images?

My studio manager and I did an initial edit of the images (at the time the decks were produced, I’d photographed 75 redheads) and then I asked Maria Ragusa-Burfield, President of Alt-Pick, to weigh in.

How many did you make?

We ordered 250 packs. Each pack contains a lead card describing The Redhead Project’s concept and features 54 different redheads’ portraits on the faces of 52 playing cards and two jokers. The backs of the cards feature a collage of 12 different portraits (all of which are featured in the deck).

How many times a year do you send out promos?

I have six email promos and six postcard promos scheduled for 2015. Many will be images from the Redhead series. The playing cards are being used as leave-behinds at portfolio showings and networking events.

Are you a card shark? Why the cards?

No, I’m not. The deck of cards idea came up while my studio manager and I were brainstorming ideas for showcasing and promoting my work on the project to prospective advertising and editorial clients. We were immediately taken with the idea as a promotional tool. It’s a tactile, novel, functional, and fun way to highlight 54 portraits from the project.

Where did your affinity for redheads come from?

The initial concept for The Redhead Project actually came to me during a corporate shoot while processing images of an executive who had red hair and piercing blue eyes. I was struck by the contrast of his features against the white Oxford he was wearing and the light seamless backdrop and thought that a series of redheads wearing white against a white seamless would make an interesting personal project.

Since I didn’t know any redheads, I initially relied on word of mouth to enlist participants. We hosted a Redhead Project launch party in July 2013 where we displayed images of the initial 10 redheads photographed, served red hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and invited creative professionals and friends to invite their favorite redheads to find out more about the project.

The scope, concept and reach of the Redhead Project have evolved since the early days of the project and social media (especially Instagram – @projectredhead) has really propelled interest. All subjects still wear white—like the executive that unwittingly inspired this all—but I also have subjects bring their favorite clothes, accessories and props that reflect their personalities and style, and each shoot is a collaborative process.